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Firearms
Development of Firearms While gunpowder as a blasting charge was useful in its own right, it didn't take long before someone thought of its potential for killing. The development of firearms came soon after. Through the early primitive cannons, hand cannons and the like have come and gone fairly quickly. Motivated to pursue their edge, the Republic of Faloran has pushed for more effective firearms as quickly as possible. The current designs fielded by the Faloran army have standardized as much as possible on smoothbore muskets with matchlock firing mechanisms. Those who can afford it can also buy wheellock rifles. Pistols in both matchlock and wheellock are also currently available as well. Current Infantry Weapons The Faloran Standard Issue Musket - Smoothbore with a matchlock firing mechanism. Skilled troops can fire 3-4 shots a minute with it. Its accuracy is extremely poor, requiring massed fire to gain any significant hits on targets. Will not work in rain or damp weather conditions and the matchlock mechanism leads to a fairly significant rate of misfires. Effective range is only 75-100 yards under optimal conditions. Hunting Rifle - Extremely expensive and hard to use, this is a recent development in firearms. It has a wheellock firing mechanism and a rifled barrel. It can fire one shot with relatively good accuracy, but then it requires over a minute to clean the barrel and reload it. Can accurately hit targets out to 150-200 yards. Pistols - Available in a wide variety, there is little standardization with the designs. The more expensive ones have wheellock mechanisms for firing, while the basic versions still use matchlocks. A smoothbore pistols can be reloaded and fired 2-3 times a minute, but its effective range is under 20 yards. A rifled pistol, while taking several minutes to reload can reliable hit targets out to around 50 yards. Cannons and Artillery The Faloran navy has standardized the 9 pound cannon as their standard ship armament. Throwing a decent weight of shot while still being easy to reload, it is common in large numbers among all Faloran Navy ships. A trained crew can fire 3-4 times over a span of 3 minutes with this cannon. Types of shot fired by the 9 pound cannon: *Round shot, standard sphere of metal. *Canister shot, a small tin container filled with musket balls. Fired at close range to deal casualties to the crews of ship. *Chain shot, two smaller balls joined together by a chain. When fired, it whirls through the air like a bolo. Intended to rip down masts and foul rigging. The Faloran army on the other hand has standardized on the 12 pound field gun for use in sieges and ground battles. They are fielded in batteries of twenty guns. Massed fire can tear through infantry formations and sustained fire can bring down the toughest of walls. A skilled crew can fire 2 shots in a minute. Types of shot fired by the 12 pound cannon: *Round shot, standard sphere of metal. *Canister shot, a small tin container filled with musket balls. Fired at close range to deal casualties close infantry formations. *Hot shot, a round shot that has been heated in a fire until it is red hot. It is loaded into the barrel wrapped in a wet cloth. Intended for coastal positions, it is fired into enemy ships causing damage and starting fires. Category:Player documents Category:Gunpowder